Resident Evil 5 is one of the most highly anticipated games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but the game is not expected to be released by Capcom until sometime in 2009 as the developer wants to spend sufficient time on getting the feel of the next main entry just perfect. Despite the far off release date, though, Famitsu magazine in Japan has managed to squeeze out some juicy information and footage from the title.

For this latest project the team has changed somewhat, with Jun Takeuchi taking the production reigns from Hiroyuki Kobayashi-san this time, whilst Keiji Inafune will be overseeing the project as a whole. Several members of the very first Resident Evil game have been enlisted to bring a strong feel of authenticity and familiarity for long-term fans, especially since series creator Shinji Mikami is no longer part of Capcom. The game is set to take on the feel of movie ‘Black Hawk Down’ in which the main playable character is to be Chris Redfield, with the game taking place ten years on from the events of the original Resident Evil. The story is set to explore Redfield’s life during those ten years, with him being a member of BSAA at the time, sent out to investigate an incident in a desert location that acts as the main setting for the game throughout. In addition to this, the gameplay style will be akin to that of Resident Evil 4, in that there will be no annoyingly placed static cameras, with players instead controlling Redfield in the same was as Leon Kennedy from the previous outing. The environment will also play a key role, with the protagonist being effected by prolonged exposure to high temperature, leading to hallucinations at times, as well as dark and light areas leaving his eyes to correct themselves as a normal human’s eyes would.

The theme of the recently released video clip is “Ever since the dawn of time, the most primordial human emotion has been…FEAR” and the DVD begins with footage of the original Resident Evil, with Chris and Jill in the throes of escaping the mansion from the original nightmare. This is followed by the battle against Umbrella in Resident Evil 2 against the backdrop of Racoon City falling, then the third game where a hunter pursues Jill Valentine in a never-ending hunt. The scenario then moves on to the deserted island of Rockfort for CODE: Veronica’s mysterious events, Resident Evil Zero’s Billy Coen, the convicted felon that becomes a surprisingly close ally, before finally focusing on the madness-infected village where Leon rescued the President’s daughter in Resident Evil 4. You can watch the full interview piece below, along with footage of Resident Evil 5, thanks to Game Videos:

As for the interview section with Takeuchi-san, below is a rough translation of some of it, courtesy of Aggelos from the NeoGAF forums:

“We are making strong efforts to adjust various aspects of the game system. A half-year ago we showed biohazard 5 to the public. The graphic quality was something that I would call “a fundamental point”. But presently we are at a development-phase in which we are making graphical close-ups for every situation. In biohazard 5 we have a wide range of situations; we have put extra emphasis on the lighting, with the team wanting the bright places to be seen very clearly. Truly, if we pay sufficient attention to that aspect, it is hard to be lacking in the gameplay department. A characteristic of the biohazard games is to put strong stress on the “dark atmosphere”, but on the other hand we must blend this with the “luminous atmosphere”.

“The ‘light and shadows’ was an essential theme of the biohazard series. Up until now the correlation between the story events and the ‘light and shadows’ theme was rather abstract. This time round, though, in biohazard 5, we would like to express an even stronger perception / sense of the reality involved, by joining the abstract sense and what you actually see. We would like to create a game that puts the right stress on ‘light and shadows’. When you stand in a bright place, the objects that are in a dark place are very hard to be seen. It is all about the matter of focal point. In dark places it is hard to see either way. The “things that are out there and you cannot see” concept is an idea / philosophy that biohazard games can fulfil very well, but other games struggle to do so. You cannot see the enemies, you cannot see the items you are not able to see (you cannot tell apart visually what is happening around) - that is what biohazard is all about. We would like to materialise all of these plans, and focus on how we can present the “fear of the dark” idea / concept even better than before. Like in the real world, where our eyes have a luminosity adaptability when you enter from a bright place to a dark one, in biohazard 5 correspondingly you cannot instantly see. In biohazard 4 we had many original weapons, however there was a demand from gamers who played biohazard 4 to have more real-life weapons included. Thus, in biohazard 5 we will try to do our best to fulfil such a request, as much as possible.”